Bank of America Cuts PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Price Target to $164.00

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) had its target price cut by Bank of America from $167.00 to $164.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PPG. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on PPG Industries in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Barclays cut PPG Industries from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $163.00 to $149.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Redburn Atlantic cut PPG Industries from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Vertical Research upgraded PPG Industries from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $164.00 to $162.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $155.47.

PPG Industries Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PPG opened at $130.52 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $139.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $138.91. The stock has a market cap of $30.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28. PPG Industries has a 52-week low of $120.32 and a 52-week high of $152.89.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.86. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 22.98% and a net margin of 7.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that PPG Industries will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 43.92%.

PPG Industries announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPG Industries

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PPG. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 358,333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $46,512,000 after acquiring an additional 35,571 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 137.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,224,000 after acquiring an additional 20,226 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 8,479 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,883 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Company Profile

PPG Industries, Inc manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and specialty materials in the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Industrial Coatings. The Performance Coatings segment offers coatings, solvents, adhesives, sealants, sundries, and software for automotive and commercial transport/fleet repair and refurbishing, light industrial coatings, and specialty coatings for signs; wood stains; paints, thermoplastics, pavement marking products, and other advanced technologies for pavement marking for government, commercial infrastructure, painting, and maintenance contractors; and coatings, sealants, transparencies, transparent armor, adhesives, engineered materials, and packaging and chemical management services for commercial, military, regional jet, and general aviation aircraft.